Adjustable grates have heretofore been devised for use with stoves and fireplaces of different dimensions. Exemplary of early adjustable grates are those dislcosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 376,758, 483,410, 783,954 and 893,671 which essentially used the principle of constructing grates with members that overlapped one another in an adjustable manner whereby their lengths could be altered by increasing or decreasing the degree of overlap. Other early adjustable grates were constructed with an array of longitudinal bars loosely supported upon supports whereby the bars could be intertwined in varying degrees, much like the teeth of two combs, as exemplified by that grate shown in U.S. Pat. No. 893,671. Still other adjustable grates have used perforated pans or plates adapted to be slide one upon the other to adjust overlap, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,561,543 and 2,519,263. Recently a grate kit for a wood stove of an adjustable configuration using telescoping members has also been devised as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,782.
The earlier of the just described grates are ill suited for modern day use for several reasons. For example, the earlier ones were constructed of heavy and often elaborately designed cast iron which configurations today would be extremely costly to construct. Adjustable grates of the type having pans or perforated sheets are ill suited for supporting logs in fireplaces since they would collect the ashes on the pan and hinder the flow of air to the still burning logs. The grate in the last mentioned patent is extendable but such extension is achieved by means of telescoping members that may become fused and which is designed for adaptation to a firebox rather than to be freestanding.
It thus is seem that a need remains for an economic fireplace grate which may be packaged for storage and sale in a compact configuration and readily assembled into freestanding grates of various dimensions for use fireplaces of various sizes in a simple and speedy manner. It is to the provision of such a grate and a kit from which such may be assembled that the present invention is primarily directed.